The heartrending cry reverberated on the streets of Lima on the night of the Peruvian elites’ ‘pre-paid’ coup carried out in Lima, capital of the most unstable of the Andean countries, subjected as never before to the shock of the tectonic plates of fascist polarisation.
Miguel Ángel Ferris
The failure of the construction of a state inherited from the Spanish colonial world, which has perpetuated all its feudal, classist and racist structures (to which were added human and environmental misery caused by the savage introduction of neoliberalism, now in crisis), has been exposed in this parody of a dispute between the legislative and the executive which repeats itself as though it were yet another traditional festival.
The successive and lamentable mistakes by a teacher-turned-leader from the Peruvian hinterland, isolated from the vital support of the bases of his own party and surrounded by social climbers, patronage networks, false allies and unexpected ‘friendly fire’, led to his typical and much-heralded defeat. They also left on the edge of desperation and the abyss the vast majority of a People that fears the revenge of hidden fujimorism, police repression and the abandonment of the few social policies that had been undertaken.
The recourse of the Latin American elites to the parliamentary Coup, one of so many versions of the twenty-first century tendency to coups, has been spreading over the last few years with or without the collaboration of the obedient armed forces inculcated in Nazi-influenced military Prussianism and Yankee anti-subversion training.
Lawfare is perfectly complemented by these so very subtle innovations and, in addition, it does not leave marks on the wall or on demonstrators’ backs.
However, it is increasingly perfected by the media and judicial mafias and knows no bounds now that the far-right has become international and that its methods are even used by the Spanish national ruling classes.
Since the dramatic turn of events (“Peru’s first-ever female president!” a rather misinformed feminist leader said immediately in my chat), a disorientated and leaderless mass of people has wandered the streets, while feelings of abandonment and of anger against politicians and their beneficiaries are growing. Such sentiment provides oxygen to the strongman autocracies. Low quality education, the ambitions of corrupt elites and the consequences of a model that excluded the majority imposed by the new creole power following decolonisation have put an end to the hopes of the Peruvian People who harboured the dream of a historic change after so many defeats.
Of the three countries with the greatest Andean or afro-descendant population (Peru with 30%, Bolivia with 41% and Ecuador with 45%), only in Bolivia is there an alliance between indigenous social movements and political parties that guarantees the balance of successive popular and progressive governments.
In Ecuador, a conflict between Rafael Correa’s party and the party of the CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), Pachakutik, allowed the millionaire Lasso (with just 12% of the votes cast) to impose his interests, and those of his friends the multinational companies, above the will of the country’s mostly excluded sectors.
Only an acceptance of a true plurality of the left, excluding strongman leaders, can guarantee triumphs and the maintenance of a necessary popular backing, like that obtained currently by Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez in Colombia.
Even if Peru needs a new constitutional assembly to replace the current one, imposed by the criminal Fujimori in 1993, it has already been demonstrated, as happened in Chile, that it would not be enough to fulfil the processes of democratic legitimisation.
The construction of a collective project for a nation with progressive advances, after so many years of agitation and internal dirty warfare, predatory presidential rules and the imposition of neoliberal models that vastly increased inequality, has to be a priority on the agenda of any serious alternative to the current chaos and hopelessness.
The voices of Lopez Obrador, of Petro and of Boric, among others, demanding guarantees and justice for Pedro Castillo and his family, the calling of elections, respect for human rights and the maintenance of democracy, demonstrate an urgent need: that of building links of co-operation and a regional identity among the majority of countries that seek profound change in the social, political, economic and environmental Latin American reality.
Peru is not an isolated coup, the reactionary right does not rest. The new lawfare against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, after the failed magnicide attempt, warns us and alerts us to a well planned strategy, lubricated financially by ‘reptile funds’ (economic funds destined to pay hidden or illegal expenses), to decapitate progressive leaders.
In this way they seek to put a brake on the continent’s historic political turnaround which has made the oligarchies pray the Lord’s Prayer four times and recite a couple of Hail Mary’s for their unpunished crimes and a clear lack of christian charity.
Yes, “Away with them all”, but leave us hope, unity and a project for society with advanced democracy for a worn-out country.
(Translated by Philip Walker – Email: philipwalkertranslation@gmail.com)– Photos: Pixabay
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